Korra's Heir
by sriyag
Summary: 19 years after the defeat of Kuvira, Korra is murdered and a little girl is born. What obstacles will the new Avatar face?
1. Chapter 1

The first thing she was supposed to remember was her third birthday. She remembered her obnoxious cousin, zipping around popping the purple balloons in the living room. She remembered the cake, round and flat and purple, certainly not enough to feed the crowd gathered in the small Republic City apartment. She remembered most, if not all, of the details of her third birthday.

To think it had been almost 9 years ago now.

But there was something else, too. Something she couldn't have possibly seen.

She remembered standing in a tall tower, staring out the window at an airship soaring through the sky. She remembered recognizing the airship as the retired Fire Nation One, the royal (though somewhat primitive) airship. The airship hadn't flown in years, so she couldn't have possibly seen it in her lifetime.

It could have been a dream, but something about it made it seem more real than any other dream she had ever had. It almost blended in with the rest of her uneventful memories.

That was the first sign.

She was different.

—-—-

CRRAK!

The earth rumbled under Hope's feet. Sweat streamed down her back as she sidestepped her sparring partner's fire blast. She shook the earth under her harder, in an attempt to distract her partner. She stomped her foot hard, and the ground under her partner suddenly became unstable. He sank in the earth floor up to his chin. The teacher, who was busy examining the footwork of a pair on the other side of the arena, rushed over. The teacher quickly earthbended Hope's sparring partner out of the ground and declared Hope the winner. Hope wasn't surprised. She always won.

"Hope, come over here." The sparring teacher, Mr. Grayson, didn't look angry, but Hope still felt butterflies in her stomach. Had she been too rough on the last student?

"Mr. Grayson, what did I do wrong this time?" Her voice carried more than a hint of sarcasm. Hope never did anything wrong in class- though she was far from being a goody two shoes.

"Nothing, I'm just curious. Darius, the last kid you sparred, was the second best in the class. How have you defeated everyone, even my star pupil?" Even though Hope knew she wasn't in trouble, she felt even more nervous now. She didn't have a good answer to the teacher's question.

"I don't know, instinct?" She replied to the teacher's question casually, even though her hands were clearly shaking.

Before the teacher could ask her another question, she left. Even though her encounter with the teacher had been brief, she carried around a feeling of dread.

Little did she know her life was about to change.

—- —-

As Hope trudged home, she noticed some movement in an alley. She ignored the motion as it was probably just a triad. She ignored the motion until suddenly, the motion was right in front of her. The thief grabbed her arm, trying to wrench away Hope's watch. She pulled off his arm, but the man scratched her and simply held back on. She tried to run and stumbled, just a few feet away from the advancing man. She felt excruciating pain in her ankle. Hope was helpless. There was no one nearby, and her earthbending was useless in a city paved with asphalt. She was struggling to her feet when a fire blast landed near the man's feet. The thief fled, leaving Hope seemingly alone and hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you hurt?"

The smoke had cleared enough for Hope to see an outline of a boy. He seemed to be around the same age as Hope, though he was slightly shorter. He offered a hand. Hope took it and he pulled her up. Once she was off the ground, the boy let go of her hand. She stumbled again but refused the boy's hand when he held it out. The walk to school usually took around 45 minutes, and she was only a few hundred yards away from school. With her hurt ankle, she definitely wasn't making it home.

"What's your name?" she asked quietly. Maybe she was going crazy, but this stranger seemed more trustable than her parents.

"Lucas."

»»—- —-««

The pair slowly walked to Lucas' apartment, with Lucas offering help many times, and Hope refusing his help many times. She didn't want this almost-stranger to see her as weak. Lucas' house was closer, only about 50 yards away. In fact, Lucas had been watching the attempted robbery from a window. He was homeschooled despite living so close to the school. His mother had insisted that she didn't want Lucas leaving home.

Once they finally got to the apartment, Hope collapsed on a couch. The area around her ankle had started to swell. She was tired and wanted to close her eyes, but the pain kept her awake and brought tears to her eyes. Lucas brought her a bag of ice, and she was too tired to refuse it. She pressed it to her hurt ankle. It brought relief but quickly melted, and Hope felt the full extent of her pain.

Just then, one of the bedroom doors opened, revealing a very surprised-looking woman.

"Ada, is that you? I knew you would come back!" The woman enveloped Hope in a warm hug.

"Mother, that isn't Ada." Lucas had to step in to prevent his mother from smothering Hope.

Lucas' mother took a step back and frowned. "Oh, sorry. I confused you with... someone else. I'm Nia, Lucas' mother. Oh dear, what happened to your ankle?" Nia bent down and examined Hope's swollen ankle. When she gently poked it, Hope screamed.

"That's one nasty sprain. Here, I'll help you." Nia bent some water from a nearby container and used it to surround Hope's ankle. The water glowed blue, and Hope's pain slowly dissipated.

"That didn't hurt too much, did it?" Hope slowly got off the couch and tested her leg She was surprised to see she could walk just fine, like nothing had happened.

"It's getting late out, I'll drop you off in my Cabbage Car."

One short trip and quick dinner later, Hope was laying down in bed, and all she could think about was Lucas.


End file.
